


Things Unsaid

by BadWolf303



Category: Captain Marvel (2019)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-05
Updated: 2019-04-05
Packaged: 2020-01-05 06:50:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,014
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18360845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BadWolf303/pseuds/BadWolf303
Summary: She’s known since she showed up that there was something Maria wasn’t telling her, a piece to their story that was missing. She was going to pry, she really was, but then, well, Skrulls and space and tesseracts.She’s stalling now, though. Because Carol knows even without knowing, that whatever Maria has not said will make it impossible to leave.





	Things Unsaid

**Author's Note:**

  * For [anotherthief](https://archiveofourown.org/users/anotherthief/gifts), [roodfruit](https://archiveofourown.org/users/roodfruit/gifts).



“Don’t go.”    
  
Fury has given up on dish duty, leaving the greased up pans to Carol, and Maria’s voice is so soft, Carol has to shut the faucet off to hear her. “What?”    
  
Maria shakes her head. “Nothing. Selfish moment.”    
  
“Where does this pan go?” Carol has her own selfish moment as she changes the subject. She’s known since she showed up that there was something Maria wasn’t telling her, a piece to their story that was missing. She was going to pry, she really was, but then, well, Skrulls and space and tesseracts. 

She’s stalling now, though. Because Carol knows even without knowing, that whatever Maria has not said will make it impossible to leave.    
  
And Carol has to leave.    
  
Maria takes the pan from her and bends down to the cabinet below. She shoves it in fairly unsuccessfully, what sounds like an army of pots and pans falling and clanging as Maria pushes at them and slams the cabinet door before any can slide out.    
  
Carol can’t help but laugh. Maria shoots her a glare. It all feels so normal.    
  
It probably was normal, once. Carol has been here before, if the haunted look on Maria’s face is any indication. Carol can see the echoes of something in Maria’s eyes, and then Maria’s saying it again, “Don’t go.”    
  
“You know I have to.”    
  
“I do,” Maria easily agrees, firm nod of her head as she stands close in Carol’s space. “But I also think after six years, I’ve earned the right to feel a way about it. I’ve earned the right to want you to stay.”    
  
_ What aren’t you telling me _ ? Carol wants to ask, but she doesn’t, because she cannot stay. 

And,  _ God _ , part of her really wants to stay. 

“Do you think…” Maria starts and stops in a single breath. 

“I have to go with them. I have to finish what--”    
  
“Do you think,” Maria interrupts, “that those flashes you have will become real memories some day?” 

There’s a loud crash from the other room, followed by a “God damn it, Goose!” from Fury, and Carol lets that moment take over, lets herself roll her eyes and laugh and hopes that Maria will follow suit. 

She does, and she’s still standing so close that the chuckle she exhale feels warm on Carol’s face. “That cat or flerken or whatever is  _ not _ staying here. I draw the line there, Danvers.”    
  
_ I don’t want to go _ . Carol wants to admit that  _ so _ bad, she wants Maria to know, but she knows if she says it out loud, it’ll break her. Because she also  _ does _ want to go--she needs to. She has trained (both on Hala and before) to be a hero, to fly and to protect. She owes it to Mar Vell, she owes it to the Skrulls, to help finish what she became so vital to, so tangled up in.    


“Hey.” It’s Maria’s hand, soft as it turns Carol’s hair behind her ear, tucking it there as she lets her fingers trace along Carol’s ear, that nearly does Carol in, has her leaning her cheek into the touch. “I’ll be right here when you get back.”    
  
“Promise?” Carol asks, sounding more like Monica than any former member of a Warrior Race should.    


“Stuck around for six years already, didn’t I?” 

“Mom! Aunty Carol! Hurry up in there!” 

Monica’s voice takes away that soft, fuzzy look that had been in Maria’s eyes, like she’s been brought back to where they are instead of living in a past Carol cannot remember. She can feel Maria’s hand start to leave her cheek, and Carol doesn’t want that but she lets her let go.    
  
_ Kiss me _ .

It’s a startling thought. But also...it isn’t. Because Carol knows--she  _ knows _ \--this is not the first time she has thought it. 

She’s still frozen in place with that thought floating around in her head as Maria starts retreating, dries her hands on the dish towel to start heading back to join the others.    
  
Moment gone. But…

“Kiss me.”    
  
Now Maria is the one frozen, and Monica calls again from the other room, “Come  _ on _ , Mom! You’re hogging Aunty Carol!” 

“What did you just say?” Maria asks, but Carol, even though she cannot remember her past with Monica knows instinctively that the impatient, enthusiastic, wonderful little will be padding into the kitchen any minute now, and the moment will be gone again, and they don’t have many moments left.    
  
Because Carol has to leave. She has to.   
  
“You don’t remember.” Maria says it like it’s an argument. Maybe it is. Maybe it’s a good one.    
  
“I don’t, but I  _ feel _ ...but I  _ need _ …” Carol damn near stomps her foot like a petulant child before letting out a cracked and painful, “ _ Please _ .”    
  
“ _ Mom! _ ” Monica calls from the other room.    
  
And Maria’s lips are suddenly on hers. And her hands are on Carol’s face and Carol grips tightly at Maria’s shirt and Carol does not remember anything, only sees flashes, but  _ this _ feels more like a memory than any of those flashes have.  
  
Maria leans her forehead against Carol’s when they part, and, oh, Carol thought being in the sky was the best place in the universe to be, but wow was she wrong. This, right here, is better than flying.    
  
“We better go in there before she sends a search party,” Maria says.    
  
And, she doesn’t know why, but suddenly Carol’s voice is rushed and desperate, saying, “I have to go. I’m going to have to go.”    
  
Maria nods once. “I know.”    
  
“I have to--”    
  
“Carol, I know,” she says again. She reaches for Carol’s hand, and Carol starts to wonder if it feels warmer now with the energy and heat of the core inside of her than it did six years ago before she disappeared. “But I’ll be right here when you get back.”    
  
Carol has no choice but to trust her. She has no choice but to believe that she’ll come back.    
  
Maybe when she does, she’ll remember.    
  
If not, she’ll make Maria tell her everything.  


End file.
